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More than 1,200 horses killed at racetracks in 2008

September 7, 2009 | 7:54
pm

The rush to improve safety since Eight Belles was euthanized at last
year's Kentucky Derby did little to curb the number of horses dying at
American racetracks in 2008, The Associated Press found in a national
count.

Although many tracks were already implementing safety
reforms when the popular filly pulled up lame with two broken legs
after finishing second at the Derby in May 2008, her death on racing's
biggest stage gave the effort a national face and new momentum.

However,
the AP's count found only a slight change in the number of fatalities
in 2008 (1,217) compared with 2007 (1,247). That's around 3 percent
fewer deaths.

"If it were that easy to change, we would have
flipped that switch a long time ago," said Mary Scollay, Kentucky's
equine medical director, who is assembling an industrywide database on
horse breakdowns, the findings of which haven't been released. "We've
learned injuries are very complex in their causes, and there are a
number of things that need to be critically evaluated."

Racing
officials and equine experts are unsure exactly why the total remains
so stubbornly high, though they point out racetrack deaths can happen
for a variety of reasons. Also, no single change is likely to produce
overnight results and many states implemented reforms after the Derby,
so their impact would only be felt for part of 2008.

Last year,
using open records requests sent to all thoroughbred racing states, the
AP counted more than 5,000 horses that were reported killed at tracks
between 2003 and 2007. The number was highest in the 2007 count because
some states didn't keep track before that.

The same request was
sent again this year to cover 2008. Responses from the states varied
slightly because the minor racing states of South Dakota and Wyoming
provided totals for 2008 but not 2007, and Kansas, which reported seven
deaths in 2007, had none to report last year because its major track,
The Woodlands, closed for economic reasons. Also, some states may have
slightly altered their record-keeping methods.

By this year's
Derby, nearly every major racing state had banned anabolic steroids,
even though a necropsy showed Eight Belles was not on them. Tracks also
scrambled to enhance the testing of their racing surfaces, apply
padding to starting gates, replace whips with noisy but less painful
riding crops and outlaw a certain kind of horseshoe known to cause
injuries.

"I believe, and I think our fans believe, thoroughbreds
are competing in a safer environment today than they were one year
ago," said Alex Waldrop, president of the National Thoroughbred Racing
Association.

Although some of the reforms, such as the steroid
ban, took longer to implement and in some states may have only affected
a few races later in the year, a comparison between 2007 and 2008
reveals a troubling trend at some of the nation's biggest racetracks.

Of
the 26 states that provided statistics for both years, 12 reported more
deaths last year than the year before. Thirteen others reported fewer,
with Virginia listing eight both years.

California, which hosts
by far the most races due to its numerous tracks and ideal climate for
the sport, again recorded more than twice as many fatalities as any
other state. The AP counted 251 racing and training-related deaths
there in 2008, up from 240 the year before.

Louisiana reported the biggest improvement, dropping from 68 deaths in 2007 to 40 last year.

Tom
David, the state's equine medical director, attributed the change to a
new pre-race exam program that was launched last year following the
staggering number of deaths from 2007 — nearly half of which occurred
at Evangeline Downs.

"That really threw up a flag we have a serious problem," David said.

Luis
Marquez, director of racing in Arizona, where there were 81 horse
deaths in 2008 and 80 in 2007, said state budget shortfalls could be
hampering safety. His state wants to issue pre-race exams too, but
there are 11 unfilled vacancies in the racing office that have made it
difficult to keep the same level of injury monitoring, let alone add a
new layer.

"An animal may be perfectly fine today, but then
tomorrow it doesn't feel good and you're making it race," Marquez said.
"When you do a pre-race evaluation, you have a better chance of
detecting injury."

Even some tracks with pre-race exams saw their fatality numbers increase for other reasons.

When
Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., replaced its dirt surface with synthetic
in 2006, there was no fatal breakdown for the first 69 days of racing.
Then in the holiday meet last December, eight horses died within a
month — twice as many as an even longer holiday meet in 2007.

While
Turfway officials are still examining what may have caused the
increase, among the theories is that its ban on rear "toe grabs" —
shoes that contain metal spikes to aid in traction — might have
backfired. While a ban on front toe grabs is now standard in the
industry, Turfway has since rescinded its ban on the rear ones.

Since
the death of Eight Belles, NTRA issued a checklist of proposed safety
changes and appointed a panel led by former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy
Thompson to investigate tracks and accredit those in compliance.
Churchill Downs, the Derby's host track, was the first to gain approval.

"Accidents
can happen," Thompson said, "but if an accident happens, let's see if
we can make the results of that accident as minimal as possible."